substantial decline in the proportion of entering students who are african-american, american indian and latino. california has experience with the impact of banning race from state university admissions decisions. in 1996 voters approved prop 209, which banned the practice. the supreme court decision will not affect that ban, but santa clara university law professor margaret russell says the court's decision could impact us in other ways. >> this will affect us in california in the sense that the supreme court, in deciding to take the care, has obviously signaled that it's willing to consider overturning the earlier decision that upheld the use of race. so no matter how it comes out, in terms of the vote, it's re-opened the debate. >> reporter: a debate becoming even more heated as university budgets shrink and the number of applicants grows. the u.s. supreme court is not expected to issue its decision until spring of next year. reporting live in san jose, marianne favro, "nbc bay area news." >>> we want to share some breaking news with you. it has to do with b.a.r.t. there's a problem on the